Amphibia: Hop Popular

August 27, 2021 5:38 PM - Season 1, Episode 24

It's election time in Wartwood, and Hop Pop, still without a place to sell his vegetables, tries to unseat Mayor Toadstool.

• First, a point of personal confusion. I've represented Toadstool's first name as Maire, as in, "Mayor Maire Toadstool." I saw it depicted as that before, but now I've seen an episode that says his first name is Frogdrick. And his character is credited as Mayor Toadstool. So: I will write his full name and title going forward as Mayor Frogdrick Toadstool.
• Anne, with the help of Polly and Sprig, brings home groceries. Anne can drive Bessie and, with her long gangly human limbs and athleticism, can probably carry more and faster than the frogs, although she doesn't have their froggy leap. Still, she's a credit to the family.
• Continuity: the Plantar's still don't have a vegetable stand, so they couldn't get many groceries. At the end of the episode, they get the stand back. On a larger scale, Hop Pop doesn't win the election, but his complaints about taxes and his campaign inspire the citizens of the valley to rebel against the toads put over them by the newts, which plays into the season finale.
• That's some five o'clock shadow Hop Pop has. I guess he has facial hair.
• The Grub-N-Go is hiring greeters, which puts it in line with being a Wal-Mart kind of establishment. It appears to hire Loggle as a clerk, who also has a woodsmithing business. We don't know how he splits his time between them. The voice from inside the store rejecting Hop Pop is not Loggle's, so I don't think he owns the place. (Loggle and Hop Pop are friends, I think.)
• "Heck, we ain't even replaced the schoolhouse after last year's millipede incident!" On multiple other occasions Wartwood buildings are build really quickly, so construction must be woefully underfunded indeed.
• It turns out that Wartwood politics involve more than just an election. Like seemingly everything else in Amphibia culture, there's trials involved! There's beetle-riding, giant baby bird feeding, finding one's way home from the woods naked and a boxing match. All of these trials seem to be overseen by Albus Duckweed, the character voiced by Kevin McDonald. But the victory doesn't actually seem to matter to the outcome, they're just ways for the constituents to decide suitability for the position.
• Toadstool offers Hop Pop his stand back, and tax free, if he'll throw the boxing match. Anne is against it, but Polly is all for it. (Polly is reading a book titled Wog, BTW.) Hop Pop doesn't throw the match, but, while popular in Wartwood, because apparently people outside of town get a vote, he still loses the election. D'oh! Still, the residents chip in to build him a new stand. Which is okay... until next year's taxes come due, I guess.
• Signs at the boxing match: "Can't Stop Pop," "Toadstool is No Fool," "Toadstool Drools!" Banners are up reading "H-DIAH" and "T-STOOL." "IN FROG WE TRUST" is visible on a large piece of signage.
• Geography: the election map shows the Wartwood region's place in Amphibia. On the lily pad-shaped continent, Wartwood is near the center, but the wedge-shaped river stands between it and Newtopia, the capital.
• The citizens that got together to present Hop Pop with the stand are Wally, Felicia, Ivy, Mrs. Croaker, Loggle and Stumpy.
• Predator of the episode: giant millipede.

posted by JHarris